Dentistry was once a male-dominated occupation, but that
demographic is quickly changing. A panel, moderated by Beacon
editor Dr. Arthur J. Crosta, ('67) recently discussed how that
trend is altering the profession.

Dr. Arthur Crosta: Twenty years ago there were fewer
than 2,000 women dentists in the whole United States. Today there
are more than 25,000. To what do you attribute the growth of
women in dentistry?

Mr. Joe Silverman: I think one of the reasons for the
growth of women in dentistry is the possibility for very good
part-time work. They don't lose out by saying, "I want to
be home for my children by a certain time, or I only want to
work two or three days a week". A lot of women I have spoken
to are going into dentistry because it allows them to work two
or three days a week and still be home four days a week to take
care of a household. In society, it has been the woman's role
to raise children, even though that is shifting more to men taking
care of children, also. I guess this is part of the shift, allowing
women to have a good, respectable profession and still not have
to do it full time.

AC: Anybody agree or disagree with that?

Dr. Peter Kudyba: Well, I agree with it, but I can
tell you where it started, give you a background. I think it
started way back when affirmative action started to come into
play, especially in the middle '80s, where we had the yuppies
coming out of college and AIDS coming into the forefront. Dentistry
was not that great a profession to go into. We had a lapse because
government came in and said that we had too many dentists. So
many males went into the business world. Then all of a sudden
affirmative action came into it and females fell into the minority
group, which attracted them to dentistry. I think it's evolved
to the point where they've found out, as Joe said, that with
flex-time, picking the time when to practice, they can raise
a family. I think now it has become a norm.

Dr. Lynn Harasty: I completely agree with both the
trends. I was a nurse back when AIDS first popped on the scene,
and I noticed a shift in medicine and then in dentistry­how
people, men in particular, shifted out of healthcare and into
Wall Street, the business field.

AC: Do you think because men were not going into dentistry
at the time that it opened the door for women, or do you believe
women were actively recruited?

LH: I think it was simultaneous, as Dr. Kudyba said.
Another factor, I believe, was managed care.

AC: In what way?

LH: I think that as people are considering more socialized
medicine, there is a trend where more women are entering healthcare.
You see that in other countries as well.

Ms. Marnie Johnson: I agree with all these comments,
but there may be another factor. People have the image that dentistry
is very barbaric, and they just picture the forceps. Now, with
a move in dentistry toward cosmetics, there is a more caring
emphasis. I get a lot of input from women patients who say, "You
know, a man dentist would never tell me you can do this to make
your teeth look this way." They appreciate a woman's input
in cosmetics­not to say that men don't have that, but I think
a lot of women feel more comfortable with women. Patients feel
we have smaller hands and it won't hurt as badly, or that we
are more compassionate or gentle. That is what I have been told
by patients.

JS: I have actually been told both by female patients­that
a female has a better point of view on esthetics, and also that,
"I am so glad you are a man, I would rather go to a man
dentist. I feel they know more what they are doing than women
do." It is just a perception. I think it is just a perception
that doctors and men know what they are doing. I have actually
been told both sides.

AC: What effect do you think the increase in women
is having on the profession, if any?

PK: A male dentist visited the clinics one day. He
looked around and saw all the females out on the clinic floor
and said, "This is the greatest thing for dentistry for
men. Look at all these young women we have out there­these
are the people I can hire." He was looking at it from the
perspective that he can open up a full-time practice and have
the days filled in on a part-time basis with females.

AC: Why did he think more females are more likely to
be hired than males?

PK: Well, because they will come in on a part-time
basis, they will be flexible. A male is still looked upon as
a provider for the family; I still think that is out there. Whereas
the female is not really the provider for the family, and it
looks like she can fulfill her dreams of being a
professional but also does not have to have that full-time constraint
where she goes in from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or whatever a full-time
practice involves. I find that many females going in have home
offices, and in fact, I tell them that it is the ideal thing,
where you can have a home office and then your time is really
your own. When your husband comes home, then you can work in
the evening or work Saturdays.

LH: Actually, I have had job offers, probably specifically
because I am a female and people have been up-front about that.
Balancing out the practice.

AC: Balancing out the practice or the fact that you
would be more willing to work shorter hours or part time?

LH: Because there would be no competition there, that
I wouldn't want to come in and take over.

AC: Why not, why wouldn't a women have the same goal?

LH: Some do.

PK: But I can tell you, I have spoken to many of the
female students. A lot of them want to get married and have a
family and therefore work part time.

LH: The great thing about dentistry is that it affords
you the opportunity to do whatever you want. If you want to have
a consuming career, you can do that. You can have your own practice
and do whatever you want with it. But if you don't and you want
to work part time, you can do that, too. There are not a whole
lot of professions that can afford you that opportunity to go
in any direction you want.

AC: Marnie, since you are still a student, what do
you believe most of your female classmates' aspirations for dentistry
and life are, so to speak.

MJ: A lot of people I know want to go into residencies,
and others want to specialize. Some people are putting off having
children until they are done with the specialities, but there
are a lot of people in our class who have already had children.
I am going into an all-female practice where I was an assistant.

AC: It has been written that women dentists work fewer
hours and retire earlier. How do you think that will affect the
delivery of care in the future?

PK: I don't think it will affect the delivery of the
care. If you are working fewer hours, then you have to take on
a smaller patient load. There is no reason why you can't work
your schedule around Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Very rarely
are you going to send something out to the lab on Monday that
would enable you to insert that crown on Tuesday. You have a
week turnaround before you can do the inserts, so flex time should
not make a difference as far as delivery of care, as long as
you do not overbook yourself.

MJ: If you are only going to be part time, you are
not flooding the market as much. There will be more opportunities
for more people to go into dentistry and more variety in its
practice­more group practices like you are seeing with physicians
now. Patients can at least see somebody. I work for a cardiology
group with 10 physicians. I think that is what is going to happen
with dentistry. You are not going to have just this one person
working out of their office all the time, you are going to have
more variety.

PK: The public has to realize they are not going to
be seeing the same individual all the time. In dentistry, at
one time, when you went in you would see Dr. So and So, and he
would be your provider all the way down. I think the public now
is going to have to get used to the position that you have all
these part-time people coming in and these big practices going
on, and they may see one doctor one day and another doctor the
following day. I think you have to watch how the public is going
to react to this.

MJ: But large practices are good in a way because then
patients have access all the time. There is always somebody available.
At least when you have a bunch of dentists working together,
you have the understanding that you are going to see someone
today.

PK: I think, as I said, you have to see how the public
reacts to it because people are used to personalized care. It
is one area that they like about dentistry, having the one individual.
In medicine, when they went into managed care, you heard many
people grumbling, saying "One day I see So and So, how do
I know what he knows?" At least in dentistry, there is the
constant of an individual looking at the same person at all times.

JS: I think that for long procedures patients will
still get personalized care. For emergency procedures, patients
will see who is there that day and not wait two days until their
primary provider comes in. But if you are having bridge work
done, you are not going to have the preps done by one person
and the try in done by another doctor in that office. But in
an emergency procedure you will see whichever doctor is there
that day.

AC: With the fact that women are working fewer hours
and may be retiring earlier, the implication is that there might
not be enough choices for patients in the future, and that there
will be actually a shortage of dentists as most of the people
retiring are male and maybe a majority coming in are female.
Do you think that will be a problem in the future? A shortage
of dentists because of the working hours, or do you think that
is bogus?

MJ: I think that as the AIDS scare blows over a little
bit more, we will be getting larger classes than we can handle
on the clinic floors right now. The applications are so high.
I have heard people could not even get interviews. I think it
was not very appealing to get into dentistry, but now
people are starting to get into it because they are realizing
that the hours are flexible and it is not like going through
medical school and the residencies.

PK: I think, in fact, that there will not be enough
dentists. There are not going to be enough because dentistry
did its job and closed four dental schools. The other dental
schools cut down the size of the classes, and this had an effect
on dentistry as it is today. And I think we are not going to
have enough dentists.

AC: How do the career paths of male dentists and female
dentists compare? Are women more likely to be solo practitioners,
associates, or partners?

LH: I think women will tend to be in groups. They enjoy
working with others more so, and I think the general trend is
away from solo practice.

AC: The Class of 2002 was the first in New Jersey Dental
School history to have more females than males. Do you believe
this is a trend that will continue?

JS: I think that men hope so. I don't think that it
will keep going to 70/25. I think it will continue around the
50/50 mark.

PK: I think the economy is going to have a lot to do
with it.

LH: I do, too.

PK: Right now the economy is booming. The cost of education
in dentistry is very high, so a young man sees an avenue where
he can get out of school and get an MBA, do it in increments,
and make much more money than getting himself into a bind financially
as he would do in dentistry.

MJ: A lot of businesses are hiring people and then
paying them for continuing education. They do not do that in
dentistry.

PK: If the economy is going to go down and there is
not going to be that much money out there, you are going to find
people with the credentials might fall back into the health professions.

JS: Not everybody is doing dentistry just for the money.
I have an MBA. I went into dentistry because I wanted to work
with patients. My MBA will probably help me with my office, but
people are not necessarily going into MBAs because they feel
more potential there, and people are not necessarily going away
from dentistry because they don't think there is as much potential.
I hope that a lot of people are going into dentistry because
they want to work with patients and they want to help them.

AC: The American Association of Women Dentists has
a web site that lists some perceived advantages of female dentists
as stated by women dentists and patients: better communication
andlistening skills, a higher level of trust, they are extremely
compassionate and caring, children identify with women dentists
as a mother figure, excellent rapport with patients, and flexible
schedules. Do these perceptions have any basis in reality as
far as you are concerned as defining factors of women dentists,
or do you think they are just stereotypes?

MJ: I think it is individualized.

JS: I think it is stereotyped. There are just as many
men that would have those same qualities. I am interested in
going into pediatrics, and I know I work extremely well with
the kids. I do not think it has to do with being male or female.
I think it has to do with how you specialize and if you care
about your work.

MJ: I have been told by a male patient that he loves
coming to me because I am a woman. You know, I have heard it
from men and women alike, but I think it is very individualized.
I think there are certain people that just click with a certain
doctor and that is just where it is. It is probably stereotypical,
but when I first see a patient on a referral visit, I often hear,
"Oh good, you are a women, you are going to be more gentle."
And I think this is something that maybe the public hears.

AC: But you don't really think there is a lot of validity
to it.

MJ: No.

PK: I think early on in the transition, the first women
that came into dentistry were from health professions such as
nursing and dental hygiene. When these women came in to school,
they were more compassionate, more organized, and more caring
than the males. I find now that we
have the mix of male and female, I find that women may be more
compassionate to the patients, but that the organizational skills
and everything else are fairly well equalized.

LH: I think dentistry as a profession in general has
become more compassionate, more caring, spending more time talking
to your patients about the chief complaint, and what their needs
are.